Many Of The Military's Top Leaders Can’t Stand The Retired General Leading The Anti-ISIS Coalition

One would think a man with four stars on his collar leading U.S.
forces in Afghanistan just one year ago would have no problem
working with military leadership in the fight against militants
of the so-called Islamic State at present.

But for retired Marine Gen. John Allen, who was appointed
by President Obama in September as special envoy to lead the
global coalition to counter the militant group, that calculus has
been wrong.

Gen. Lloyd
AustinReuters

An article
posted at Foreign Policy on Thursday by Mark Perry lists a
surprising number of detractors to Allen's appointment, including
many in and out of uniform. The most obvious rift comes from Gen.
Lloyd Austin, the man in charge of Central Command, tasked with
carrying out the military plan to "degrade and destroy" ISIL, the
administration's preferred acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq
and the Levant.

"Why the hell do we need a special envoy — isn't that what
[Secretary of State] John Kerry's for?" a senior officer close to
Austin told Perry, of the potential for confusion since Gen.
Allen reports directly to President Obama.

Allen, 60, was given an incredibly difficult task upon his
appointment. With the Islamic State consuming much of Iraq and
Syria and boasting roughly
31,000 fighters, his role as special envoy is to "help
build and sustain the coalition," and coordinate their
efforts, according to
the State Department.

But Allen — now inside the State Department and no
longer wearing military rank — commands a role not
very far outside the scope of duties of Gen. Austin at Centcom,
who is charged with overseeing relationships, offering military
support, and carrying out operations when necessary in
20 Middle Eastern countries, including Iraq and Syria.

REUTERS

Indeed, Gen. James Mattis — the commander before Austin at
Centcom — demonstrated a perfect example of the military's
ability to build coalitions without outside support,
in retelling how he got 29 nations together to counter Iran's
attempt to mine the Strait of Hormuz.

"The military overseas can do more than simply reinforce foreign
policy," Mattis said earlier this year. "We can also buy time for
the diplomats to do their magic."

It became apparent after only a
few days of Allen's appointment that a turf war had
emerged.

Via Foreign Policy:

When Allen requested that the Pentagon provide him with air
transport to the region just days before his scheduled arrival in
Iraq on Oct. 2, he was turned down by Austin's staff, who told
him to check with the State Department. It was a slight "that
left Allen steaming," a former high-level civilian Pentagon
official confirmed.

Even Gen. Anthony Zinni — himself a former Centcom commander
who later served as special envoy to Israel for peace
talks in 2002 — was critical of Allen's appointment (via The
Tampa Tribune):

“John Allen is a great guy, but does it take a retired general to
coordinate a coalition? What is Centcom, chopped liver? Did
Norman Schwarzkopf get some retired general? Who is really
leading here, that is my question.”

And there are many more gripes noted by military officers who
spoke on condition of anonymity to Foreign Policy. One derides
Allen as "a boy scout." Another, noting his new role as a
quasi-diplomat though he's never been one, said "I don't know how
that's going to work."

For many of the military's top leaders it seems, having a retired
general like Allen outside of the military chain-of-command
reporting to Obama is a sign of White House "micromanagement." It
also offers the possibility of conflicting messages between State
and the Pentagon in the fight against ISIL.

“We are getting a lot of micromanagement from the White House.
Basic decisions that should take hours are taking days
sometimes,” one senior defense official
told The Daily Beast.

But perhaps the most devastating critique comes from one of the
tribal leaders that US forces need to support in pushing back the
Islamic State. As militants battled for control of the home town
of Jalal al-Gaood in Iraq's Anbar province, the man desperately
tried to reach Allen to ask for assistance, but it was too late.

“Gen. Allen said, ‘I will put you in touch with someone in
Centcom.’ But it never happened,” Gaood
told The Washington Post's David Ignatius. “Every time
the Iraqis meet with Americans, they just take notes.”